The transfer of a patient from one support platform to another is a difficult procedure for hospital staff. In a hospital setting, patients are constantly being moved. For example, a patient entering the hospital via ambulance is moved from the medical stretcher or ambulance gurney to a hospital gurney, a fixed hospital bed, an examination table, or an operating table. Also, patients already in a hospital need to be moved as well. For example, a patient having surgery may be moved from a fixed hospital bed to a hospital gurney then to an operating table and finally back to a fixed hospital bed. Each time a patient is moved a sliding or lateral movement of the patient from one support surface to another is required.
Difficulties for patients and hospital staff may arise from this lateral transferring of patients. Typically, the hospital staff acting in concert is responsible to position and move the patient to the new support surface by means of lifting, sliding or dragging. This action may cause injury to the patient if the patient accidently slides off of the support surface or if the patient is dropped. Also the hospital staff may be injured from the act of lifting, sliding or dragging a heavy patient.
For most surgical procedures, the patient is placed on the operating table with the patient's arms positioned at the patient's sides. The surgeon will typically stand adjacent to the patient's side and lean over the patient thus unintentionally leaning on the patient's arm. Many surgeries last several hours and the pressure of the surgeon's body on the patient's arm may cause damage to the patient's arm, wrist or hand.
Furthermore, leaning on the arm or hand of a patient for a long surgery may cause a restriction in blood flow as well as pressure on muscles and nerve tissue. Consequently, patients may awake from the procedure with sustained permanent damage to the muscles and/or nerves of the arm, hand, or wrist. Even if the surgeon doesn't lean on the patient's arm, the patient is at risk for ulnar nerve damage which may be caused from resting the arms on a surface for extended periods of time.
The prior art teaches various systems designed to move patients without actually lifting. These systems employ air rollers, pull straps and inflation as a means to drag patients to and from support surfaces. Many of these systems are intended for single-patient/single-use application, such that the devices stays with the patient from the hospital bed to the operating room table.
It is known in the art that patients in a hospital setting may be agitated, intoxicated or confused (such as when emerging from anesthesia), and may cause unintentional self-harm such as rubbing eyes or pulling out the intravenous lines. The prior art teaches arm protector devices used during surgeries but these designs are constructed of rigid materials and are not secured to the support surface.
Finally, the prior art teaches a patient mounted intravenous protector. This device employs a means to secure intravenous needles in a patient's arm from accidental or patient initiated removal. Although this device provides structural support about a patient's arm, its application is not desirable for surgical operations due to its bulk.